Author: 唇亡齿寒 / Lips Gone, Teeth Cold
Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/
Chapter 137
“That was… the Yasha?” Casper muttered in disbelief.
Alois quickly stepped forward and grabbed Joshua’s wrist. “Did it hurt you?”
The wound on Joshua’s cheek had stopped bleeding, but the dark red scar and dried blood were still shockingly visible. “…I’m fine,” he said, dazed, his eyes fixated on the bloodstains on his hand, his intense gaze almost as if he could burn the deep crimson marks with his eyes alone. Then he looked away, turning his attention to the computer in the control room.
A large black screen was embedded in the wall, surrounded by complex cables and various circuit boards that an ordinary person could not comprehend. Joshua staggered over to the screen, looking both excited and disbelieving.
The screen displayed two lines of white text. The first read, “You have a new message”, and the second, “From Kester”.
After Joshua had activated the research facility’s system, this message had automatically been sent to the auxiliary control room’s computer according to the settings made by the sender long ago. After lying dormant on a sealed server for two thousand years, it had finally reached its intended recipient.
Joshua hesitantly raised his hand to tap the confirmation key, then quickly pulled back as if shocked.
The two lines of text disappeared, and Kester appeared on the screen.
He was wearing his usual white lab coat, his silver hair neatly combed, and his black eyes still as gentle as ever. His face looked almost the same as Joshua remembered, though it was clearly more worn by time. The years had left their unforgiving marks on him.
He smiled at the camera, and the smile was exactly as Joshua remembered.
“Joshua, by the time you see this video, I will no longer be in this world.”
The familiar voice filled Joshua’s ears, stirring memories that had settled deep within him but had never truly been at peace. These memories surged like boiling lava, churning violently and disrupting Joshua’s long-sought tranquility, while also searing his heart with pain.
“If you’ve returned to Earth, to the research facility, this video would automatically be sent to the nearest computer.” A bitter smile formed on Kester’s lips. “Even now, I still have so much I want to say to you. You’re probably going to laugh at me for that. I was so cold when I sent you away, but now I desperately want you to come back and hear what I have to say. Go ahead and laugh if you want. Curse me, hate me—whatever you feel like doing. Given your personality, you probably want to kill me. But by the time you see this, your brother will already be dead, so you won’t get the chance to kill me again.”
“How are you doing now, Joshua? Although, even if you told me, I wouldn’t be able to hear you. If the technology in the colonies advanced smoothly, inventing a powerful warp engine, then returning to Earth might be a simple task. It took you two thousand years to reach the colonies, but it only took you a few days to return. Just thinking about it feels so ironic.”
“What do you look like now? Are you still young? Your brother has grown old. Not just in body—my mind has aged far faster than my body, and I now live only in regret and remorse, passing every long day and night with nothing but memories.”
“I want to apologize to you, Joshua. I want to ask for your forgiveness. I sent you into space with my own hands, and now I’m hoping you’ll come back. Even I think it’s despicable and undeserving of sympathy. But I still want to seek your forgiveness. I’m confessing to you, Joshua. I want to earn your pardon, to bring even the slightest comfort to my endlessly tormented soul. If anyone in this world can forgive me, it must be you.”
“I’ve done many wrongs in my life and failed many people. But the person I’ve wronged the most is you, my brother. It was my selfishness that sent you on the most hopeless journey in the world. I even tried to justify it with excuses like ‘I hope you live’ or ‘I hope you can witness the future for me.’ It’s truly unforgivable. I promised you a future, yet my actions might very well have destroyed it.”
“Joshua, did you know that I created a monster? You might have heard its name from Giorgione or Titian. It’s called the Yasha, and it was the product of an experiment gone wrong. I originally intended to create a powerful weapon to help our home planet, Earth, reclaim the colonies. But instead, I created a weapon capable of destroying humanity. I’ve tried many ways to reverse or destroy it, but all have failed without exception. I chose to stay on Earth to find a way to completely destroy it, but I know that I likely won’t achieve this goal in my lifetime. To be honest, when I sent Giorgione and everyone else to the colonies, including you, I was harboring the hope that someone in the future would be more capable than I am and would find a way to destroy the Yasha. This should have been my responsibility, but I passed it on to you. Now, my only hope rests on you. Please forgive my incompetence, Joshua. This is all I can do.”
“The central computer in the research facility contains all the records about the Yasha, but they probably won’t be of much use. The Yasha was an accidental creation, and such an accident is nearly impossible to replicate. What you need to know is that the Yasha’s destructive power is beyond your imagination, and none of the weapons I’ve found can harm it. Its sole purpose is to kill and destroy, and it knows nothing else. It is not bound by time or space and can move freely between them—this is what makes it truly terrifying. Fortunately, I’ve found a way to limit its movements. I created a field that confines it to a specific area. It cannot break through the field or destroy the field generators. This is all I could accomplish. The data on the field is stored in the central computer, and there’s a backup on the Dante as well, so Giorgione and the others can continue the research when they reach the colonies.”
“One more thing to note: The Yasha’s killing and destruction are not without patterns. First, it only kills humans and destroys man-made objects. It never harms animals, plants, or natural objects. Second, in the same time and space, it prioritizes destroying the things that pose the greatest threat to it. In your era, the warp engine, which has ‘transcending time and space’ capabilities similar to the Yasha’s, is likely to be its primary target. If a more powerful weapon emerges in the future, it too will likely be a priority for the Yasha to destroy.”
“And finally, the Yasha won’t harm me. I am its creator, and in its eyes, I am not ‘human’. If it harmed me, it would be acknowledging that its creator is human, making it a human creation, and thus it would be compelled to self-destruct. This is a paradox. Therefore, even if I stand before it unarmed, it has never harmed me. And you, Joshua, share my blood, so the Yasha won’t harm you either. This is your unique advantage. That’s why I ask you, if in the future, people find a way to destroy the Yasha, please carry out that task on my behalf. Consider it my last wish. Even if you hate me, please fulfill this one request.”
“…There’s one more thing. If you ever meet Leo in the future, tell him he’s free. I didn’t bring him into this world to control him. I hoped he could save us. An AI’s lifespan is long, and I am already dead. The dead have no reason to imprison the living. I couldn’t fulfill his expectations, and for that, I’m sorry. I hope he can bravely pursue whatever he desires. The pursuit of happiness is a right everyone is born with, and it’s the same for him.”
“That’s all I have to say. I’ve rambled on and on, and you probably think I’m being long-winded. But please, let me say just one last thing, Joshua. Know that among all the living people in this world, the one I love and miss the most is you, my brother. I hope you will always be happy and find joy in life.”
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